Lawyer says man arrested for gun charge is victim

Norman Miller/Daily News staff

Wednesday

Sep 28, 2011 at 12:01 AMSep 28, 2011 at 10:03 PM

A Lowell man accused of pointing a gun at his girlfriend and then running away on Tuesday is the victim of a woman who does not want to let him break up with her, his lawyer argued in Framingham District Court today.

A Lowell man accused of pointing a gun at his girlfriend and then running away on Tuesday is the victim of a woman who does not want to let him break up with her, his lawyer argued in Framingham District Court today.

Joshua Jefferson, 27, was trying to break-up with the woman when she called police in retaliation to get him arrested, his lawyer, Michael Brennan told Judge Robert Greco.

"It's a pattern of conduct where he's trying to break up with her and she calls police and he's arrested,'' said Brennan. "She then says she won't testify and she posts bail."

But, prosecutor Jonathan Sahrbeck said Jefferson is now charged with assaulting the woman twice. On Tuesday, at 2:30 p.m., Jefferson got into an argument with the woman at her Wilson Avenue home and then pulled the silver handgun. After she said she was going to call the police he ran off, Sahrbeck said.

Police began searching for him and found him waiting for a train at the downtown platform. When Jefferson saw the officers, he sprinted down the train tracks. He was later arrested after a search. Police found a matching gun in a backpack on the train platform that was near where Jefferson was standing.

"He (Jefferson) said the gun belonged to a friend and he had been in possession of it for a month," Sahrbeck said.

Police arrested Jefferson at 5:30 p.m. and charged him with assault with a dangerous weapon, possession of a firearm without an FID card, possession of ammunition without an FID card and resisting arrest.

Sahrbeck asked Greco to hold Jefferson on $30,000 bail, citing a long criminal history. That history includes an arrest earlier this month in Framingham where Jefferson was charged with assault and battery against the same woman and malicious destruction of property. The prosecutor asked the judge to revoke Jefferson's bail on that case.

Greco set bail at $1,000 on the new case, but revoked the bail on the open case. That means if Jefferson posts bail on the new case, he would still be held without bail on the older case.

Jefferson is due back in court on Oct. 7 for a pretrial conference.

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